Building Up the Painful Patient: Moving People to Meaningful Recovery

Course Description

The treatment of people suffering from persistent pain presents a unique challenge for the clinician, but can also be uniquely fulfilling. As any clinician will tell you, persistent pain has been on the rise across the developed world. Making meaningful improvements in recovery can often be difficult, especially when operating within a primarily biomedical paradigm. It is clear that clinicians need better strategies and tools to assist these individuals.

The human body and mind are incredibly strong and adaptable. This basic premise will guide us as we explore how to build resiliency and improve function in people living with pain. The course will cover how to improve higher-order skills to nurture therapeutic alliance and motivate active engagement in recovery. We will also learn the basics of how to calm down the sensitive nervous system and how to avoid imparting nocebo to our patients. We will focus primarily on how to build up a person’s resiliency and tolerance for meaningful activities in their life, with emphasis on building confidence and independence.

Content will include a heavy focus on practical clinical management of people living with persistent pain, including strategies to decrease nervous system hypersensitivity in order to decrease pain and to maximize functional recovery. This course is not intended to teach clinicians to perform pain neuroscience education (PNE); rather, it will focus on incorporating pain science principles to encourage paradigm shifts in the clinical management of this challenging but rewarding population. This will be an interactive course where clinicians can come together to grow in our mutual understanding of how to best help those with persistent pain take control of their lives and move towards meaningful recovery.

To understand nocebo effects and the implications they have for the rehabilitation of patients in pain.

To understand therapeutic alliance and the implications it has for the rehabilitation of patients in pain.

To improve the ability to use interpersonal skills/communication and perform an appropriate subjective examination to guide you in the best management of persons with persistent pain.

To improve behavior change strategies, such as motivational interviewing, to improve self-efficacy and empower people living with pain.

To improve the ability of the practitioner and patient to perform shared goal setting.

To better understand the role of the clinical environment and the external environment on the recovery of patients in pain.

To understand the basic principles of symptom irritability and severity and to understand how they should guide assessment and treatment.

To understand basic strategies for decreasing nervous system hypersensitivity in patients in pain.

To understand how to implement strategies such as mindfulness, breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation in the treatment of those with pain.

Day Two

To understand the principles of graded motor imagery, graded activity, and graded exposure and to learn how to apply them in the rehabilitation of patients in pain.

To understand the role of social support in the rehabilitation of patients in pain.

To understand the role of personally meaningful activity in the recovery of persons with persistent pain and learn how to better encourage engagement the meaningful activity.

To understand the role of a multidisciplinary team to address medical comorbidities, mental health and sleep in the rehabilitation of patients in pain.

To understand the role that pain flare-up coping strategies play in the successful recovery of patients in pain.

To understand how to use the above principles to build resilience and improved function in patients who are living with pain.

Course Instructor

Michelle Morrow is a physical therapist who specializes in outpatient orthopedics and the treatment of persistent pain. A Grand Valley State University alum, Michelle graduated with her Doctorate of Physical Therapy in 2013. After practicing in outpatient orthopedics for over a year, she then pursued residency training in orthopedic manual physical therapy through Bellin Health partnered with Evidence in Motion. She obtained her Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist certification in 2017. During that time, she discovered her passion for working with people living with persistent pain and went on to complete her Therapeutic Pain Specialist certification through the International Spine and Pain Institute and Evidence in Motion in 2018. She currently serves as the interim Vice-Chair of the MPTA Pain Special Interest Group (SIG).

Michelle currently works in outpatient orthopedic practice in a rural setting, spending most of her time treating patients with persistent pain. She utilizes a biopsychosocial approach that focuses on person-centered care to help people take control of their lives and return to meaningful activities.

Building Up the Painful Patient: Moving People to Meaningful Recovery – 2-Day Course Schedule

Day 1 – 7 Contact Hours

7:30am – Registration

8:00am – Objectives and Introduction

8:15am – “Soft Skills”

10:30am – Break

10:45am – Human innate adaptability

11:00am – The role of the environment

11:30am – Goal setting

12:00pm – Lunch

1:00pm – Pain informed subjective history

2:00pm – Calming Strategies

3:50pm – Break

4:00pm – Lab time

5:00pm – End Day One

Day 2 – 6 Contact Hours

7:30am – Sign-in and registration

8:00am – Building Strategies

10am – Break

10:10am – GMI Lab

12:00pm – Lunch

1:00pm – Building social support

1:15pm – Address comorbidities

1:30pm – Planning for long term success

2:00pm – Outcome Measures

2:30pm – Things to Keep in mind/lecture wrap up

2:50pm – Break

3:00pm – Graded Exposure Lab

4:00pm – End Day Two

Course Pricing Information

Licensed Clinicians

$350

Students/1st-Year Licensed

$300

This course is pending approval by The Michigan Physical Therapy Association for Physical Therapists and Physical Therapy Assistants for 15 CEUs and is eligible for PDR credit in the area of pain and symptom management for Michigan Physical Therapy Licensure.

Current Scheduled Courses

If you are interested in hosting a course in 2019, please use the contact form below for more information. Thank you!

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Cancellation and Refund Policy

Cancellations received at least 7 business days before the event are 100% refundable. There will be no refund for cancellations received later. If participants register and do not attend, they are still responsible for full payment. Participants will need to contact Dynamic Principles, LLC. via phone or email with a request for refund.Dynamic Principles, LLC. will process the participant’s refund within 3-5 business days from the day the request is received.